


Penumbra

by ebenflo



Series: All The Kingsmen [1]
Category: Kingsman, Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Astronauts, Hartwin, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Older Man/Younger Man, One Shot, Pining, Science Fiction, Unrequited Feels, messing with space and time, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-18 09:35:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11871558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebenflo/pseuds/ebenflo
Summary: Astronaut!AU one shot. Harry Hart is Kingsman - and humanity's - greatest hope of finding a solution before our sun dies. Gary 'Eggsy' Unwin is the young-gun rookee recruited by Hart following the untimely death of his father during a failed launch eighteen years ago. When Harry embarks on a mission to the other side of the galaxy, he realises it may be too late, in more ways than one, to acknowledge the true nature of his feelings for Eggsy. Relativity is a bitch.TLDR: Harry goes to space, Eggsy stays behind on Earth. Thanks to relativity, time passes at different rates and Eggsy ages faster than Harry.





	Penumbra

**Author's Note:**

> Now translated into Russian by the very talented Almamater  
> Link: https://ficbook.net/readfic/6010722

  **P E N U M B R A**

 

 

 

 

 

penumbra

 

 

pɪˈnʌmbrə/

 

 

_noun_

 

 

noun: **penumbra** ; plural noun: **penumbrae** ; plural noun: **penumbras**

  1. the partially shaded outer region of the shadow cast by an opaque object.

    * Astronomy

the shadow cast by the earth or moon over an area experiencing a partial eclipse.

    * Astronomy

the less dark outer part of a sunspot, surrounding the core.

  2. a peripheral or indeterminate area or group.

"an immense penumbra of theory surrounds any observation"




 

_All launch systems are go._

His back pressed hard against the seat of the cockpit, Harry thinks fondly of a curling polaroid wedged in the corner of his pack and shakes his head. The self pity routine hasn't ever really been his forte.

"You're a damn fool, Hart," he whispers under his breath, thinking of that lovely image unfurling in his mind, even as he prepares to leave not just the city, or the country, but the entire planet behind.

The photo in question: a candid shot of a laughing Eggsy Unwin, aged 22 years and 6 months, taken in Merlin's backyard at the pre-launch barbeque. Forever young, forever beautiful. Harry remembers how the sun dapples Eggsy's hair and catches glints of gold. Eggsy's smile is full and wide, all pearly white teeth and charm. Harry desperately adores the way his boy is an open book, heart on his sleeve and unable to hide his emotions. Stupid really, to think of Eggsy as his boy. Harry knows he doesn't have the right to think that way, to mark Eggsy as his own. One hurried kiss in the hushed silence of the control room doesn't give him that privilege. His fear had stood resolutely in the way of any such declaration, and soon even that will be eclipsed by the yawning chasm of the cosmos. The universe, in all its glory, giving Harry Hart and his pride one great big 'up-yours'.

Still, Harry remembers Eggsy standing in the light of that crisp autumn afternoon, the neck of a bottle perched between his fingers. Clever fingers, soft and elegant, not calloused like Harry's own. Fingers that chased the warm expanse of Harry's skin, scratching along the strap muscles of his back in their stolen moment in the control room, a ghost that will stay locked away in Harry's memories.

When he closes his eyes Harry sees Eggsy turning mid-laugh. He catches Harry's own stare and boldly holds it, the corner of his mouth upturned like some modern day Mona Lisa. He raises his bottle in salute across the lawn and Harry matches the gesture, tilts his own tumbler of whiskey with a bend of his wrist and ignores the pointed cough their Merlin throws his way.

If - no, when, Harry grits his teeth and reminds himself - _when_ he comes back, Eggsy will be **so** much older. The thought makes Harry sweat bullets behind his visor. Time is inevitable; aging is inevitable. But to be robbed of Eggsy's youth, to never see the young man grow into the phenomenal pilot Harry believes he can be...Harry Hart isn't a romantic man by nature, but if there were such a time that his heart could break it would be now. Here, in the confined cockpit of this tin-can, he thinks he feels the muscle of that pathetic organ splitting at the seams. He thinks of Eggsy in the control room, eyes trained to the screens before him, focused and poised for the job at hand. The way Eggsy bites the inside of his cheek when he's concentrating. Then he feels the sickening surge as the boosters, ripping them away from the earth, and its like he's leaving a part of his heart behind.

*

"You all right 'Guv?"

Harry, 51, allows himself a small smile. He's floating somewhere near the vicinity of Jupiter's rings with only his regrets to keep him company, the remainder of his crew asleep. The air on deck is stale and almost metallic. Harry's breath is measured, small puffs of warmth as he tilts back in his chair and memorises every detail on the screen in front of him. Eggsy is 24, his optimism unfaded as he beams at Harry from halfway across the solar system.

"Things are okay back 'ere, I finished some of them core modules. Merlin says I'm doing well." Eggsy looks pleased and Harry _is_ pleased. Because anything that makes his boy smile like that makes Harry warm up inside.

This far out they're deprived of the liberty of speaking in real time, and Harry treasures these precious minutes of footage as if each one will be the last. Mourns the ability to respond actively to the things Eggsy shares, like little morcels of himself that he gifts to Harry. His little sister's latest artistic endeavours (Harry is disgustingly grateful to see the inclusion of himself in some of her finer pieces). Eggsy's training scores (excellent, of course). Eggsy's battle to lose five pounds (nonsense, utter nonsense, he's perfect the way he is). Eggsy warbles on for a few moments longer, recapping his week full of memories that are both important and irreverent, joyous and sombre.

"...so's I'm thinking right, that we should properly catch up when you get back 'ere. To earth." _To me._ The unspoken hangs between them, suspended in the silence. "Because I'd really like that Harry," Harry could be forgiven for thinking that just maybe, Eggsy's voice has dropped to a slightly more sly tone "...and I think you would too."

"Oh, Eggsy," Harry murmurs, pausing the video and tracing the static outline of Eggsy's jaw with trembling fingers. He tips his head back and gazes out the porthole; facing an oblivion of stars and light, he wishes it was Eggsy's face instead.

*

"Saw them stats you sent back. Roxy was well impressed." Eggsy, 28, lets out a long low whistle. He leans forward as if wanting to impart a great secret. "Think some of them lads weren't expecting the results you lot are getting up there, think this whole thing is a bi' of a waste -" Harry's jaw clenches, unclenches. "An excursion into mad hope, they says." Eggsy barks a laugh. "Mad hope, that's all any of us ever had anyway. I always knew you could do it." Eggsy's voice is a low purr, intimate, touching Harry almost physically. "It's like I said innit? You're the guv'nor."

The years have been kind to Eggsy. He's lost some of the baby fat, revealing new angles that only act to further enhance his features. Harry, 52, would like to think that's _his_ Kingsman Academy of Space Exploration pullover Eggsy is wearing, the way it sits slightly too large around the shoulders, but he mentally kicks himself for the silly romantic notion. Why would Eggsy be wearing his jumper?

"Anyway, keep safe out there n' all that yeah? Sleep tight, Harry Hart." On screen, Eggsy reaches forward as if to turn off the feed, before his hand falters and he looks up at the camera with an uncharacteristically shy demeanour. "I miss you."

The screen goes dark. Harry Hart hangs his head and pauses for a beat, before the unmissable shuffling of velcroed socks behind him mournfully returns him back to duty.

*

Eggsy's eyes are glassy and lost, and he looks so much younger than his 36 years. Almost vulnerable. He coughs wetly and rubs at the back of his neck, a tell that Harry has come to learn means Eggsy is upset or unnerved. Harry's heart thunders wildly in a panic before Eggsy has even opened his mouth.

"Me mum died." Eggsy can't quite meet the unblinking eye of the camera, can't quite focus. He seems a little dazed as if the information is still taking its time to sink in. "Breast cancer. Did her best to fight it but it had already spread to her bones by the time she was diagnosed. The doctors, they tried." Eggsy sounds bitter and Harry's heart breaks a little more. "So...it's just me and Dais now. She aint no kid no more Harry. Fifteen going on twenty-one. But she needs her mum, still, and I...I don't know what to do, you get me?"

"Oh, Eggsy," Harry murmurs, still 52, wishing he could somehow reach across the eons and wrap Eggsy in all the love and comfort he deserves. It's strange and surreal, out here in the darkness. He understands the physics behind it of course, but it was all just theory until he finds himself sitting waiting for the telltale beep of the ship's communication hub to tell him there's a new message. He still holds his breath every time the monitor clicks to life and brings news from home, as if he can't quite predict what form of Eggsy it will bring him. But 24, 28, 36...Harry loves him all the same. He loves him.

"Anyway," Eggsy clears his throat again. "Merlin's still going, though he's a little slower these days. That stroke he had left 'im a little weak in his left hand and leg but he's mad keen to not give it all up just yet.  He can tell you the rest in his feed. He misses you tonnes. And Harry..." Eggsy's voice cracks and Harry places his palm against the monitor. _I love you. I miss you. I need YOU._ "Just...get home safe, okay? Please. I'll be waiting. Always have, Harry Hart, and I always will."

This time there is no mistaking the timbre of his words, the meaning behind them crystal clear even through a patched-up feed and a delayed transmission, and Harry _sobs_.

*

The capsule lands with such force that Harry's sure he's dying, and what an irony that would be. Save mankind, martyr himself. He's sure Eggsy would get a rise out of that. Maybe even erect a statue in his honour. Harry hasn't heard from Eggsy in months. The warmth and startling brightness of Earth's sun hits him and he stumbles, weakened despite all their advances to lessen the impact of deep space travel. There's someone running towards him. Two someones, followed closely by a herd of what must be staffers.

"Mr Hart!"

The voice is female. He looks up and realises there's something awfully familiar about the young woman, her wheat coloured curls bouncing around her cherubic face that's flushed with adrenaline. By her uniform she's an engineer. Harry wonders why she seems so familiar - far too young to have worked with him previously.

"Daisy, give him some room!" _Daisy? Surely not._ Harry's mouth is parched and not just for the obvious reasons like falling through what's left of Earth's atmosphere. _That voice._

Harry could travel across the galaxy twice more and never hear a single sound more pleasing to his ear than that voice.

"Welcome home, Mr Hart."

Harry staggers, finding his feet and failing, looks up into the face of the sun. His sun. His Eggsy.

Eggsy's face is unchanged. No, that would be a lie, Harry thinks hazily. There are new creases Harry doesn't recognise. The beginnings of crows feet that crinkle when Eggsy smiles. A tinge of grey to his temples that gives him an air of maturity. His shoulders have filled out.

"Long time no see," Eggsy, 52, says softly, as if they aren't surrounded by dozens of their own staffers and technicians, all waiting to question and prod and enquire. As if this whole planet, Harry's whole mission, all of it exists for this moment alone.  His hands are thrust into his pockets at first, like he doesn't know what to do with them.

"H-how long has it been?" Harry tests his voice, finds it croaky with disuse. His two team members didn't make it, and it's been a long and lonely road home. His tongue darts out and wets the cracked planes of his thin lips.

"Thirty years, Harry. It's been thirty years." Eggsy's eyes fill with tears, sorrow or joy Harry can't distinguish, but it makes his heart ache terribly so all the same.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Harry says, a little stronger this time. He struggles to his feet and rests a warm, broad hand on Eggsy's own. Longs to thread his fingers through Eggsy's, but there'll be time and world enough for that.

Eggsy smiles and Harry thinks that this - all of this - was worth it to see that smile alone.

"I promised I would."

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about the repost, AO3 gremlins ate the last one.


End file.
